Alan K. Henderson's Weblog

In short, 12 House seats (and electoral votes) went from states with an average government union share of 47 percent to states with an average government union share of 24 percent.

It's much too simplistic to label this cause-and-effect. But the numbers describe the "effect" part of the equation clearly. People are not only moving from strong union states to weak union states, but from strong government union states to weak ones.

With both short- and long-term trends against them, organized labor really has but one weapon remaining: huge wads of cash. That might be enough to stave off disaster.

"I was in high school, how many of you didn't hang out with questionable folks in high school? But no, There's been no witchcraft since, if there was, Karl Rove would be a supporter."

Okay, now I’m CONVINCED that both parties have moles in each others’ PR camps. First it’s the Minneapolis/St. Paul Republican convention’s elephant roadkill logo. Then it’s that Obama poster with the most Orwellian color scheme imaginable – and there’s even a version with Sith light sabers!

Now it’s the Democrat target logo. What PR nightmare will the Democrat mole come up with for the Republicans in 2012?

In short, Islam and the United States Constitution represent totally different political theories. Under the latter, sovereignty lies with the will of the people; under the former, it lies with God. The U.S. Constitution emphasizes the rights of the individual, which no mythical or mystical collective goal or will can justifiably deny, whereas collectivity has a special sanctity attached to it under Islam.

According to Castro’s daughter Alina Fernández, Fidel has Jewish ancestry on his mother’s side, which might help explain his uncharacteristic defense of them. A lot of good El Jefe’s heritage did all the Cuban Jews who had to flee leaving everything they owned behind on the island after the revolution, though

At $578 million—or about $140,000 per student—the 24-acre Robert F. Kennedy Community Schools complex in mid-Wilshire is the most expensive school ever constructed in U.S. history.

Finally, an interesting question: how is this controversy similar to, and different from, that over the Ground Zero Mosque? Both involve actions that private citizens have a right to take, but arguably shouldn't. It is a worthwhile comparison, but that is a post for another day.

Labor Day, the first Monday in September, is a creation of the labor movement and is dedicated to the social and economic achievements of American workers. It constitutes a yearly national tribute to the contributions workers have made to the strength, prosperity, and well-being of our country.

[Saddam] had a nuclear program — before the first Gulf War. For those of us who recall the issue of yellowcake in Iraq, this is the same stash that the IAEA had sealed during its inspections immediately after that war. The seals remained on the compound, which means that Saddam never used it again. In fact, that’s why we suspected him of attempting to purchase more from Niger, because he couldn’t get his hands on this yellowcake without triggering a new war.

This doesn’t have anything to do with continuing efforts by Saddam to produce nuclear weapons. After the rejection by Niger, no one has produced any evidence that Saddam got fissile material from anywhere else, although evidence has arisen that he kept his nuclear technology on standby for reinstatement as soon as the sanctions got lifted. He continued to work with chemical and possibly biological weapons for several years, according to captured IIS documents, but the nuclear progam appears to have been shut down effectively.

Saddam was obsessed with Iran. Imagine the effect on the jolly Iraqi's thinking come 2005 and the rise to stardom of Iran's Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, publicly mocking the West's efforts to shut his nuclear program and threatening enemies with annihilation. That year Ahmadinejad broke the U.N. seals at the Isfahan uranium enrichment plant.

Was Iraq a potential threat to the United States and the world? Threat is always a matter of perception, but our nuclear program could have been reinstituted at the snap of Saddam Hussein's fingers. The sanctions and the lucrative oil-for-food program had served as powerful deterrents, but world events - like Iran's current efforts to step up its nuclear ambitions - might well have changed the situation.

Iraqi scientists had the knowledge and the designs needed to jumpstart the program if necessary. And there is no question that we could have done so very quickly. In the late 1980's, we put together the most efficient covert nuclear program the world has ever seen. In about three years, we gained the ability to enrich uranium and nearly become a nuclear threat; we built an effective centrifuge from scratch, even though we started with no knowledge of centrifuge technology.